Celebrating Somerset

Live, work, play and learn all year round

I love Somerset above all other counties in England. In particular, it has the best National Park in the whole world – Exmoor – where I have spent the happiest days of my life.

- Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Explorer

I love Somerset because it’s where I feel most myself

- James Purefoy (Actor)

I have lived in Somerset for thirty-four years, longer than I lived in Yorkshire. Somerset has everything that I left behind when I moved here (or else I would never have been tempted away from Yorkshire). Somerset is so beautiful: it has hills, moors, a gorge, caves and a coastline. It has castles, cathedrals, grand estates and cottages. It has a wealth of wildlife in the woods, waterways and wetlands. I never tire of its beauty, there is always something to see throughout every season. Most of all what I like about Somerset is that the people made us welcome and continue to do so. As a head teacher I was always supported by my lovely parents as together we looked after their children.

- Valerie Stones, GBBO contestant

Somerset is my birthplace, my home, it is part of my soul.  Murmurations of starlings; sunrise behind the silhouette of Glastonbury Tor; the glow on the evening horizon from a trillion Carnival-float light bulbs or the throbbing heartbeat of the headline Festival act on a still summers night – these are the essence of my Somerset.

- Roger Saul, Owner of Kilver Court

Everything about the word ‘Somerset’ conjures up images that cheer and inspire, that melt the heart and ease the mind. For once, it’s a word and a county that doesn’t disappoint.

- Martin Roberts, TV presenter, Property Expert and Journalist

I’m very proud to live in Somerset and wholeheartedly recommend the quality of life it has to offer. Somerset Day is a fitting tribute to celebrate this big and beautiful county, so come along on 11th May and find out for yourself.

- Kevin McCloud, MBE

I am very much enjoying living in Somerset having lived just over the border in Dorset for many years. I am particularly fond of Wells, Bath, Frome and Castle Cary as places to visit. I am a patron of the Secret World Animal Rescue, near Bridgwater and Happy Landings at Pylle near Shepton Mallet.  The Chapel at Bruton is a favourite haunt and eating place for me.

- Valerie Singleton, Presenter

Somerset is the story of my wonderful life. Born 84 years ago here in Pilton, surrounded by dairy cows from the start. Chapel twice a week and the highlights of the summer were trips to Burnham on the train through the beautiful Somerset levels, where thousands of wading birds would rise from the water to the sound of the oncoming steam-train. In Burnham we played our hot summer days on the beach, riding donkeys and watching Punch and Judy. Pretty Somerset girls to take to Bridgwater fair every year and the one I chose to marry, I married in Burnham Methodist chapel. So, you can see why I love Somerset so much!

There is no better, healthier or more romantic place anywhere in the whole of the UK.

- Michael Eavis CBE, Glastonbury Festival

What would Somerset be without cider? We’re a Somerset company through and through.

My family has lived in the county for generations, and celebrating Somerset is what we do every day of our lives through our orchards, which are such a stunning part of our local environment, to the cider we make.

Somerset Day at our pub, The Railway Inn, has become a really popular annual event, with live music, cider & cheese tastings, and activities for all the family.

For us, Somerset Day is all about coming together with friends and family, in our community, and celebrating this fantastic area we live and work in.

- Martin Thatcher, Thatchers Cider

It’s an honour and a privilege to be patron of Somerset Day and I have great admiration for it’s foundation and for those who run it each year. It is a celebration of this unique and wonderful county, the like of which exists nowhere else in the world, and of the marvellous people who live here.

This year, the true worth of the Somerset Day concept has been displayed.   Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, all of the planned events and activities which we now look forward to, annually, have had to be cancelled. Faced with the challenge of a locked-down community over the treasured May 11^th, the directors of Somerset Day have stood their ground by rolling up their sleeves to reach out and support all kinds of endeavours and help them through this difficult time.

It is a real pleasure to be part of such a visionary practical response to what is happening. The links and connections which the scheme has established have proved their worth already.

As Her Majesty said, in her recent address from Windsor Castle, working together we demonstrate those characteristics which our forebears showed to us through the two wars of the last century. We are united and resolute and, thus, we can support each other as we face the significant challenges which this terrible crisis presents to each one of us.

Thank you to the whole Somerset Day team from us all, in Somerset. We will support you with your endeavours as you lead us through the next few weeks and months so that we can face the greatest challenge of our generation, together.

- Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Somerset, Mrs Annie Maw

Somerset is a county of stunning contrasts. The Levels or Wetlands often take on a mystical, medieval aspect, especially in a soft autumn mist. The Quantocks grip you with an austere and rugged beauty, offering walkers fabulous views to the east and west, and north across the Bristol channel to Wales. Exmoor, the land of RD Blackmore’s Lorna Doone, oozes romance with its dramatic seascapes, its stark moorland, hidden coombs, rushing streams and leafy woodlands. And then there are the beech-clad Blackdown Hills, the quieter, gentler uplands of our county.

- Kit Chapman MBE, Proprietor of the Castle Hotel Taunton